Wembley Stadium Tour

Wembley Stadium Tour

13 Oct 24

Despite visiting the old and new Wembley on countless occasions I had failed to do the stadium tour. This was mainly due to the fact that I only go to Wembley for England home games and should I stay over, I don't stay at a Wembley hotel because, to be quite frank, there are much nicer places in London to wake up to.

It annoys me when so many people knock our national stadium as it is up there with the very best in the world. It is the envy of many nations (Italy and Germany included).

The England game that coincided with the tour was the Friday night game against San Marino, so for one night only Sue and I had decided to stay at the Green Man at Wembley. We arrived at the GM just in time to sink a few beers prior to last orders and arranged to meet up with some EF members after the game at Nandos on the High St.

England v San Marino

FIFA World Cup 2014

European Qualifying Group H

Wembley Stadium, London

12 October 2012

The game itself produced a resounding 5:0 thrashing of San Marino, which should have been a lot more. A dangerous  tackle on Theo Walcott in the 1st half by the San Marino keeper led to Theo's early departure and a lengthy stay on the injured list. 

For me though, the best part of the match was the pre-match entertainment, where a Royal Marine abseiled down from the roof to deliver the match ball to the referee (all to the theme of Mission Impossible). Just brilliant!

The Day of the tour we woke up in the GM and despite a great nights sleep we hastily packed up and left as the room was a little depressing to say the least. Once outside, we were greeted by a wonderful sunny autumn morning. The Wembley arch was visible against a perfect blue sky. It was going to be a cracking day. So off we trot in the brilliant sunshine to do the tourist thing at the home of football.

Guarding the main entrance is the impressive Bronze statue of England's greatest ever player, Bobby Moore.

On one face of the plinth that he stands on is Bobby Moore's cap from the 1970 World Cup.

On another is a moving tibute to Bobby Moore OBE

The great man himself

Wembley Stadium

Roy Hodgson was suddenly taken ill, so I had to step in at the last moment to do the press conference.

I had to drag Sue out of the away team dressing room!

One of the highlights of the tour was when the  host got two of the kids in our party to pick there teams which they then led out onto the hallowed turf. Gutted I was one of the last to get picked!

Scene from the tunnel

The hardest job in football - managing the worst international team in the history of world football

Sue getting excited

Everybody gets a photo opportunity with a replica FA Cup. (Yes we did buy the photo).

A display to commemorate the 1966 FIFA World Cup . Notice that England has a UJ and not the flag of St George.

Crossbar Café 

Just inside the Crossbar Café is my favourite part of the tour. After passing the original crossbar from the 1966 final you are greeted by a life size wax image of Hans Tikowski (German keeper from the final). His face has a look of horror etched across it as the ball thunders off the underside of the crossbar and over the line

Looking back up Olympic Way as we head for Wembley Park tube station. As Stadium tours go, this is a good one